Kaya's Story (An InuYasha Fanfic)

Chapter 109: Meido Zangetsuha

It has been several days since we visited the master of potions and everything has been relatively uneventful. That is, it was until Kagome sensed a specific Sacred Jewel Shard. To add to the mix, Sesshomaru was with Kohaku so that meant there was a possibility they were working together. It was a concerning thought, smart, but concerning. When we reached Sesshomaru, he was there with another demon that he had obviously been fighting against moments before we arrived. Myoga's appearance and panicked tone suggested that this demon was pretty powerful. His demonic aura was certainly strong, but he didn't look very threatening. Myoga called him Shishinki, the ogre of death. That was a name I thought I had heard from Father a long time ago, something about a fierce battle between Inu No Taisho and Shishinki that had ended in Shishinki's death. I wish I could remember the details, granted Father probably told me the story over 100 years ago. While I was trying to figure out where I had heard about this guy, I heard Myoga yell Meido Zangetsuha causing me to look up just in time to see a large circular attack. I moved out of the way just in time, along with everyone else. After the attack cleared, InuYasha used his wind scar and caused the mountain where Shishinki was standing to turn into a pile of rubble. Shishinki then recognized Tetsusaiga and said he had heard Inu No Taisho had two sons. He also added that it was odd for such a great demon to leave Tetsusaiga to his youngest son. I knew the full reason was the same my father had for leaving his sword to me. At least that's what I thought. That is until Myoga explained that everything Shishinki had been saying about Tenseiga being a cast-off from Tetsusaiga was true. Even then, the reasoning was still a little off. If it was a cast-off, why give it to Sesshomaru to master. I could tell Sesshomaru was quite angry now, listening to this guy babble on about his sword being a cast-off of Tetsusaiga. Things were only continuing to get worse as Shishinki kept adding fuel to the fire. He brought up the fact that InuYasha was a half-demon and claimed their father had passed Sesshomaru over. I didn't believe that, and I don't think InuYasha did either; Sesshomaru on the other hand was taking it to heart. When Shishinki finished his explanation, he sent a Meido in Sesshomaru's direction but InuYasha stopped it with a wind scar. Shishinki gave an arrogant remark about burying Sesshomaru in battle, then coming after InuYasha. Before InuYasha could give a comeback, Sesshomaru punched InuYasha in the face just before ordering him not to interfere. Sesshomaru then went to attack Shishinki head-on with his claws, trying to avoid the Meidos Shishinki was throwing his way.

As I was watching this, I could almost feel the fear radiating from Myoga. He was hiding something about Tenseiga. I think it had something to do with Kagome's questions on how the Meido Zangetsuha ended up in Tenseiga. Sesshomaru got close to hitting Shishinki once but had to continue dodging the Meidos being thrown his way. His movements were becoming predictable and it wasn't long before Shishinki figured out his pattern and caught him. That was when I heard Myoga pipe up and say he needed to tell Sesshomaru about the true intentions of Tenseiga being placed in his possession. Myoga being Myoga, though, immediately came up with an excuse as to why he couldn't. Miroku fixed that problem by sending Myoga via sutra charm. I could only hear part of what was being said, but it ended with Myoga letting Shishinki win the argument. Shishinki once again attacked and InuYasha jumped into the fight using his adamant barrage, which was ineffective. The two had to dodge by jumping into the air, but once they were in the air Shishinki sent another attack. Even from where I stood, I could see Tenseiga and Tetsusaiga pulsing with demonic energy and cooperation, but Sesshomaru hesitated to draw his sword until the very last moment. When he finally did draw, a very large, full Meido appeared swallowing Shishinki's Meido and Shishinki himself before disappearing.

Our group began assessing the wreckage that had been made during the battle. The amount of demonic power that had been expelled by Sesshomaru alone was amazing. Just as we were doing this, I heard Myoga speak from Kagome's shoulder. That is one thing he's good at, fleeing from danger. We decided to join InuYasha and Sesshomaru. InuYasha was trying to show his respect for Sesshomaru and Tenseiga, but Sesshomaru took it as ignorance. I felt sorry for Sesshomaru if part of what Shishinki was saying was true. In a way, I think that is how Takahiro and Momoka felt after my father decided to leave Tenkari to me. Shortly after their conversation, Sesshomaru and his companions left and so did we.

We hadn't been traveling very long when InuYasha and I caught Naraku's scent. His scent led us to a cloud of miasma and Kohaku, but before we could reach either one Byakuya blocked our path with vines. He was our distraction while Naraku took off with Kohaku's Shard. None of them were going to let that happen, so InuYasha used his wind scar to try and clear the vines, but the vines that had been cut began releasing miasma. We couldn't purify the miasma using scared arrows because it would puncture other vines, and the wind scar would have the same effect as before. Miroku decided to jump into the fight and use his wind tunnel to clear the miasma, while Kagome and I distracted Byakuya so Sango could go help Kohaku. Once Sango was clear, InuYasha attacked Byakuya only to have him, the vines and miasma dissolve. We had been tricked, in more ways than one. Before we took off after Sango, Kagome asked Miroku if he was in pain and told her that he wasn't. Sometimes, I wonder if Miroku really does have a death wish.

We caught up to Sango just in time to see her use Hiraikotsu, but something about it was definitely different. There was a red glow of demonic energy swirling around the weapon and as it passed through Naraku, he began to disintegrate; unable to reform. We took this as our chance to destroy him, InuYasha released an adamant barrage followed my spiritual winds. Naraku tried to escape only to have Kagome hit him with a sacred arrow followed by Miroku once again using his wind tunnel. Naraku was able to retreat, but we knew it would take him a while to heal from this attack; hopefully a long while.

I joined Kagome, Miroku, and Shippo over by Sango. The other three were expressing their amazement over how strong Hiraikotsu was, I on the other hand was focused on the scent emanating from the weapon. InuYasha had the same thought I did, her weapon smelled of the potion master's liquor. A second later I heard a muffled Jaken and InuYasha lifted his foot to reveal Jaken stuck to the bottom of it. That was when we heard Rin calling Kohaku's name, so we walked over to find him alive but motionless. We would have to purify Kohaku's Shard to get him to awaken, so that's what we were going to do.